Around Toronto, 2014 Various Images

This is the Star of Lanka, the third-largest quality star sapphire in the world, weighing in at 193 carats or about 40 grams. It’s a little smaller than a ping-pong ball. Nobody seems to know exactly where or when it was found but, like most fine sapphires, it’s from its namesake, Sri Lanka. It was sold to the Royal Ontario Museum, where I shot this picture January 3, in 1958 by US gemologist Allan Caplan. I don’t much care for gems and other needful things but I’ve always liked blue star sapphires because of their colour and the way they catch the light. Mesmerizing rock :-)